Careers in Academia

Lynett Rock
Lynett Rock, a member of the Cherokee Nation, first learned physics via satellite. Now she teaches college physics and math in person.

Alejandro Rodriguez
Can we one day have paper-thin cell phones? Alejandro's work may just figure out how.

Alice White
Alice went from a minority in her field to a leading researcher in exciting new technologies.

Alicia Soderberg
Alicia once wanted to be an environmental scientist, but she fell in love with looking at the stars in the night's sky.

Brett Gilbert
Interested in law? Physics prepared Brett for the courtroom.

Brian Cox
Brian went from rocking out on stage to Britain's rock star of science.

Carlos Gutierrez
Carlos is a materials scientist inspiring students and finding materials to make devices work better.

Edward Thomas
Edward admits that physics is hard, but there are many exciting projects that make all the work worthwhile.

Evelynn Hammonds
Evelynn holds honorary degrees at Spelman College and Bates College.

Gabriela González
Gabriela shapes minds as a professor and attempts to unlock the mysteries of Gravitational Waves as a researcher.

Haiyan Gao
Great women scientists throughout history inspired Haiyan to follow in their footsteps.

James Kakalios
James teaches physics with comic books and superheroes and consults for movies such as Watchmen.

Jax Sanders
Jax learns new things everyday as an Assistant Professor of Physics that designs and improves gravitational wave detectors.

Keivan Stassun
Keivan says the best thing about being a physicist is there’s no better way to impress the person sitting next to you on an airplane.

Kelle Cruz
Kelle spends much of her time looking at small stars, but when's she not looking at stars, she's blogging and traveling.

Lisa Randall
Lisa may be on her way to discovering the next dimension, and she wants to share it with physicists and non-physicists alike.

Luz Martinez-Miranda
Luz is fascinated by the way optics problems relate to the real world. “There was something about lenses that made me want to study more,” she says.

Marta Dark McNeese
Marta chose physics mostly because she was fascinated with optics, and a little bit because she was afraid of chemicals and disliked knives.

Michio Kaku
In high school, Michio used 400lbs of scrap metal and his entire house's electrical supply to power his homemade atom smasher.

Nadya Mason
Nadya went from gymnastics Olympic hopeful to research scientist.

Ramón Barthelemy
Assistant Professor, PhD: Ramón is fighting for equality in physics. Find out how!

Ronald Mickens
Ron's curious mind and passion for science led him to pursue a career as an educator and a physicist.

Shahida Dar
As an Associate Professor at a community college, Shahida focuses on teaching, mentoring, and science outreach especially among female students.

Shirley Ann Jackson
Shirley has come a long way from her childhood fascination with the bumblebees in her backyard.

Steven Chu
Steven won the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics and works as the Secretary of Energy under President Barack Obama.